by John Marks
First published 1988
John Marks uncovers the CIA's secret program to create brainwashed assassins through mind control experiments. The former State Department officer began his investigation after learning about a mysterious suicide that didn't add up. He dug through thousands of newly released government documents and conducted extensive interviews with participants and researchers. Marks reveals how the agency conducted behavioral science studies on unwitting subjects, attempting to program them as "Manchurian Candidates" who could kill on command without knowing why. His investigation exposes experiments that two Senate committees failed to fully uncover, according to Senator Edward Kennedy. The book documents the CIA's attempts to manipulate human consciousness and create the perfect unwitting weapon. Marks shows readers the disturbing lengths to which intelligence agencies went in their quest to control the human mind.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, espionage, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: conspiracy-theory
Setting: Manchuria
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Mass Market Paperback · Random House Publishing Group